By Jason Baruch We have been asked to review legal and business trends in the commercial theater industry over the past 25 years, and to make some predictions of where the industry is heading in the 25 years to come. In undertaking this exercise, we find a few specific areas particularly worthy of discussion.
Theatrical productions are much more expensive to mount and maintain than they were

In his article published in the September/October 2012 edition of THE DRAMATISTS, Ralph Sevush laments the encroachment by orchestrators and arrangers on the rights and income streams of composers and lyricists, suggesting that this is a direct result of the efforts of a single attorney exerting his “near monopoly over the talent” to establish “overscale” terms as the &ldqu

Carter Anne McGowan
INTRODUCTION
Sitting out in the hallway of the rehearsal studios, the actress said a silent prayer of thanks that auditions for The New Musical were running late—but, hopefully, not too late, because she had to get to the catering gig that paid most of her bills—and reviewed her “sides” one last time.1 It had been a tough year; a number of regional theatres a

By Carter Anne McGowan
Reprinted with permission from: Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Journal, Spring 2014, Vol. 25, No. 1, published by the New York State Bar Association, One Elk Street, Albany, NY 12207

By Jason Aylesworth and Megan Maxwell, Co-Chairs of the Digital Media Committee1 Twenty-five years ago, the concept of digital media law was fairly non-existent. Video games were present in some households, but most exposure to gaming came from arcades. Moreover, Web 2.0 had not taken hold and revolutionalized internet use. But in the past twenty-five years, advances in technology and an incr

By Judith B. Prowda* and Jason Aylesworth** Introduction Conflicts are often dramatized in film, literature and other art forms. Anyone who has grown up watching Perry Mason can attest that the excitement of the courtroom, as usually portrayed through the heated adversarial actions of the litigators, is what drives the story. In real life, however, litigation is often protracted, subject to coun

By Carter Anne McGowan
In 2010, director Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker nearly swept the major awards at the Oscars, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Recently, a lawsuit brought by Jeffrey Sarver, alleging not only that The Hurt Locker wasn't entirely original but was also defamatory and a violation of Sarver's rights to privacy and publicity, was tossed o